I am horribly behind on a dozen or so writing commitments and I need a good motivator. So, I'm starting a writing session in the usual bat channel (here's the post with the guidelines on how to join, I use IRC via Trillian and it's easy as pie).

Session starts 12:00 PM in GMT+2 (in about one hour) and I will probably be there most of the day, so do pop in. I'm also hoping some people will join who I don't normally meet due to timezone shenanigans. Oh, and here's a handy timezone converter if you need it. I may comment on this post throughout the day to let people know how the writing session is going.

It occurred to me that wouldn't it be fun if this community had a (semi)permanent room on AIM or IRC? That anyone could drop by at any time and find writing buddies there? Of course, there's no way to staff such a room all the time, so we couldn't guarantee that there would be anyone there. But it could be sort of informal where people would just log in when they were feeling like writing and/or chatting without someone having to post here in this community. There could still be formal writing sessions when someone would definitely be there. Your thoughts?

lacerta is going to host a writing session tomorrow, and I hope to be able to attend. However, I'm also on now, and I'm in a writerly mood. So! An ex tempore writing session! I'm in the AIM room writethisfanficsessions. Join me!

I'm planning on hosting a Writing Session tomorrow Sunday as well, barring any surprises. It'll start at 5pm (GMT+2) (Countdown) again and the room will be WriteThisFanficSessions. I'll post a reminder again shortly before the start.

I think I may have to cancel this. One of my sites is acting up all weird today, and I have to make sure it hasn't been hacked or anything and figure what's going on.

The Session will start in about 7 minutes, in the AIM chatroom WriteThisFanficSessions.

If you need an invite to get into the room (some programs/services require it), IM me, my AIM user name is ariane179254 and I'll invite you. (Don't mind my "do not disturb" status it's just so non-Sprinting people won't contact me right now!)

Anyone want to have a Writing Session next weekend? I'm thinking Saturday afternoon and/or early evening GMT+2, but I should be able to do Sunday as well if that works better so let me know which day is better for you in your reply.

You should reserve at least 1,5 hours for the session (more is always possible if there's enough people who can/want to do more than 1,5 hour session that day).

I'm tentatively planning to host another Sprint tomorrow around 6pm (Countdown); I have some people coming over in the afternoon but they should be long gone by that time. And also, the scary situtation I had the last several days is over and also because I have a shiny! new! ADSL modem I feel like writing :D

So, I'll post a reminder again about 10 minutes before the start tomorrow if I can do it.

Is anyone interested in writing sprints or timed writing sessions conducted via chatroom? I've found these so helpful myself, that I'm willing to host sprints/sessions if there are others who are interested. But, because I live in Finland, any sessions I host will happen in afternoons and evenings GMT+2 timezone. Everyone is of course welcome to participate if they can, but my aim here is to serve those of us in the European timezones and close-to-European -timezones :)

A general overview of springs and group writing sessions:

Sprints: writing sessions last usually from 10 minutes to 20 minutes and then there's a break for chatting, drinking etc. for about 10-15 minutes, and then there's another 10-20 minute writing sprint. This can go an as long as there's people participating, I've been involved in ones that lasted two hours and in ones that were still ongoing when I got back online the next day. Pretty informal, usually one mod who announces and ends the sprints and the mod hat can go to another person at any time when needed and anyone can come and leave at anytime. When you first join the room, you're aren't allowed to say anything until someone else does because there could be a sprint going on right at the time.

Group writing sessions: writing sessions last from 30 minutes to 1,5 hours, after each sessions there's a break of about 15 minutes and then another sessions starts. The one's I've participated in have usually lasted for 2-4 hours. These often take place during weekends when people have bigger blocks of free time available and sometimes in the evenings on weekdays. Pretty informal, usually one mod who announces and ends the sessions and the mod hat can go to another person at any time when needed and anyone can come and leave at anytime.

I'm thinking using either an AIM or Yahoo! chatroom but I'm open to suggestions :)